$450 Pricing Looking Increasingly Likely for Radeon R9 290

[btarunr]

MSRP (before taxes) pricing of AMD's upcoming Radeon R9 290 (non-X) being around $450 is looking increasingly likely. In a string of reports that Japanese publication Hermitage Akihabara published ahead of launches of the R9 290X and the R9 290, in which the publication talked about pricing in the country, a price difference of roughly 18 percent is emerging between the two. Applying that to the $549.99 MSRP of the R9 290X stateside, one can derive a $450 pricing for the R9 290. Granted, local taxation may greatly vary between Japan and other markets, affecting the end-user price, but pre-tax MSRPs can be consistent.

The Radeon R9 290 is expected to launch on the 5th of November, 2013. Based on the same "Hawaii" silicon as the Radeon R9 290X, it features 2,560 Graphics CoreNext stream processors, 160 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and a 512-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 4 GB of memory. Its core is clocked around 948 MHz, and memory at 5.00 GHz.



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[The Von Matrices]

This will be a much better buy than the R9 290X. The R9 290X is power and heat limited, so a chip with a smaller number of cores but the same power limit should perform very closely to its superior. This still leaves a huge pricing gap between the $329 GTX 770 and $450 R9 290. One of the manufacturers could really capitalize on this price point if they wanted to.

As I've been saying though, availability is what is killing AMD at the moment for the R9 290X, and if the R9 290 is no different in availability then AMD will miss a lot of sales in the lucrative holiday season.

 

[Assimilator]

This still leaves a huge pricing gap between the $329 GTX 770 and $450 R9 290.

Or, a relatively small gap between the $450 R9 290 and the $499 GTX 780.

 

[The Von Matrices]

Or, a relatively small gap between the $450 R9 290 and the $499 GTX 780.

The problem is that pricing it at $450 puts AMD in a bad spot. Sure, it's a great deal if you compare it to the R9 290X. The problem is that there are many people (a lot post in TPU asking for system recommendations) that have fixed budgets. So if they have $400 or $420 to spend, you have to tell them to buy a $329 GTX 770 even though you know that the R9 290 might be the better value.

NVidia captures all the people who have $329-$449 to spend, a $130 range of budgets, while AMD only gets a $50 range of purchasers between $450-$499 (not to mention there are exponentially more buyers at lower prices). This just doesn't seem like a desirable position for AMD. The only logic I can see with this pricing is if they have a limited supply of cards, at which point they should price them so that demand exactly meets supply.

 

[Sihastru]

From what I've seen at a local retailer (removed now...), that accidentally leaked the price and specs, the R9 290 will be just ~50$ cheaper then the R9 290X (just ~10% cheaper), the core clock will be 947MHz, memory clock will be 5GHz (1250MHz), 4GB in total, and the shader count should be the same.

The rumor is that the shader count is the reason why the cards have been pushed back, AMD did not expect the GTX780 to drop so much in price, and in order to be competitive they decided at the last minute to enable all shaders ("soft" VBIOS updates across). Initially the card would've been $450, but now it will be ~$500.

I'm not that sure about the last part though, it's just a rumor. The card might still arrive crippled.

 

[OC-Rage]

good job AMD

Hi

good plan for AMD

good price and good performance for R290 450$ very good and cheap

core is clocked around 948 MHz, and memory at 6.00 GHz

64 ROPS and 512 Bit great work

good good

but however this GPUS cant any hope defeat nVIDIA GTX 780 Ti is monster


im waiting for benchs and performance this GPU

compare to any GTX series GPUS R290 vs 780 > i think

 

[harry90]

Hi

good plan for AMD

good price and good performance for R290 450$ very good and cheap

core is clocked around 948 MHz, and memory at 6.00 GHz

64 ROPS and 512 Bit great work

good good

but however this GPUS cant any hope defeat nVIDIA GTX 780 Ti is monster


im waiting for benchs and performance this GPU

compare to any GTX series GPUS R290 vs 780 i think

This gpu, r290, isnt competing with 780Ti, that card is 699 and up, this one is 450.

 

[Lionheart]

Is that memory speed right? Wouldn't that mean it has more memory bandwidth then the 290X.. Or is that just a typo

 

[btarunr]

Is that memory speed right? Wouldn't that mean it has more memory bandwidth then the 290X.. Or is that just a typo

Woops..fixed.

 

[german103]

From what I've seen at a local retailer (removed now...), that accidentally leaked the price and specs, the R9 290 will be just ~50$ cheaper then the R9 290X (just ~10% cheaper), the core clock will be 947MHz, memory clock will be 5GHz (1250MHz), 4GB in total, and the shader count should be the same.

The rumor is that the shader count is the reason why the cards have been pushed back, AMD did not expect the GTX780 to drop so much in price, and in order to be competitive they decided at the last minute to enable all shaders ("soft" VBIOS updates across). Initially the card would've been $450, but now it will be ~$500.

I'm not that sure about the last part though, it's just a rumor. The card might still arrive crippled.

Interesting, 290x = 290 ghz edition

 

[Tatty_Two]

The problem is that pricing it at $450 puts AMD in a bad spot. Sure, it's a great deal if you compare it to the R9 290X. The problem is that there are many people (a lot post in TPU asking for system recommendations) that have fixed budgets. So if they have $400 or $420 to spend, you have to tell them to buy a $329 GTX 770 even though you know that the R9 290 might be the better value.

NVidia captures all the people who have $329-$449 to spend, a $130 range of budgets, while AMD only gets a $50 range of purchasers between $450-$499 (not to mention there are exponentially more buyers at lower prices). This just doesn't seem like a desirable position for AMD. The only logic I can see with this pricing is if they have a limited supply of cards, at which point they should price them so that demand exactly meets supply.

Not really.... the 280X performs pretty much the same as the 770 but is cheaper at around $300??

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/R9_280X_OC/26.html

 

[OC-Rage]

This gpu, r290, isnt competing with 780Ti, that card is 699 and up, this one is 450.

hi my good friend i typin R290 vs GTX 780 not 780 Ti

thanks for your comment

 

[AlienIsGOD]

and when this drops to $359-399, then i may invest in my 1st high end gfx card im pretty content at the $200-250 price point but am looking forward to one of these 8-12 months from now

 

[1d10t]

I take this as VERY unlikely,well at least in my country.The cheapest R9 290X sold about $650 and Titan still leading the hordes at $1350 :shadedshu

 

[Fourstaff]

and when this drops to $359-399, then i may invest in my 1st high end gfx card im pretty content at the $200-250 price point but am looking forward to one of these 8-12 months from now

When it drops to that price bracket it is no longer a high end graphics card

 

[AlienIsGOD]

When it drops to that price bracket it is no longer a high end graphics card

in your opinion im sure it will go down to $399 and still be a productive gfx card and in my opinion, still high end

 

[Slomo4shO]

Interesting, 290x = 290 ghz edition

With 10% more stream processors.

 

[Fourstaff]

in your opinion im sure it will go down to $399 and still be a productive gfx card and in my opinion, still high end

Why not buy 7970Ghz? Its under $399 now, and its still a very productive card

 

[NeoXF]

The problem is that pricing it at $450 puts AMD in a bad spot. Sure, it's a great deal if you compare it to the R9 290X. The problem is that there are many people (a lot post in TPU asking for system recommendations) that have fixed budgets. So if they have $400 or $420 to spend, you have to tell them to buy a $329 GTX 770 even though you know that the R9 290 might be the better value.

NVidia captures all the people who have $329-$449 to spend, a $130 range of budgets, while AMD only gets a $50 range of purchasers between $450-$499 (not to mention there are exponentially more buyers at lower prices). This just doesn't seem like a desirable position for AMD. The only logic I can see with this pricing is if they have a limited supply of cards, at which point they should price them so that demand exactly meets supply.

I see what you mean... kinda stupid, but I guess there are enough cases like that for it to be a problem... May I sugest Crossfire R9 270Xs?

 

[DeOdView]

IMO It would be very interesting if AMD place the 290 (non X) at $399 (had been speculated). it would be game over for the 780 (even the 780Ti) and the Titan. Since I don't think NV will dropped another $50 across the line, including the 770. Who know? From the performer point of view (speculated), the 290 (overclocked) matches and beat the 780 in some games. NV will respond with the 770Ti. Oh wait... that will be the 770Ti GE!

From the customers point of view... by what ever fitted your need, it's all good. Good times! keep them coming!

Ways to start the war AMD. GG AMD and thank you!

 

[Casecutter]

Well, if you're budgeting $400 or $420... sure ended-up in an odd place.

You could spend bunch less 25% ($300-350), and either consider either GTX770 or a R9 280X still plenty performance for 1080p. In most cases a R9 280X right now offers the better perf/$ matrix as there's not that many GTX 770 at that $330 price to pick from; although, the 770 gives 3 games so there's that consideration. Or if you add 25% to that budget you can find a GTX 780 that has about 13-15% more than either the GTX770 or a R9 280X.

I honestly am very surprised Nvidia dropped the GTX 780 to the supposed $500; although most AIB customs are still priced above that. I’d like say a R9 290 with starting MSRP of $430 would be a smart move. I suppose if AMD has full production volumes they could get more agressive.

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

This will be the sweet spot imo. The option to push it to the limit without the hassle of the solder melting heat, noise and power consumption.

 

[NeoXF]

Just like how R9 290X seemed increasingly like to go for $650, right?
Well, nVidia did seriously ruin our sense of value... 2 $1000+ cards and "value" one that goes for $150+ more than the last gen one it replaced? kk...

Again, hats off to AMD (in the least "I'm this corporation's bitch" way possible).